“Tip your hand” is the American English version of “show your hand / cards” which is its British English counterpart. Both phrases could mean making one’s plans or intentions known.
Similarly, the Nigerian version, ‘I see your hand,’ could mean to understand or recognise someone’s actions, intentions, plans or motives.
The link between the British and American phrases on one hand, and the Nigerian version on the other, is that they both involve revealing or understanding intentions. In other words, both expressions share a striking similarity in meaning, with the likelihood of the Nigerian version being a clever adaptation of the English idiom. It is a unique variation of the English expression. What this means is a showcasing of the dynamic nature of language and its ability to evolve across cultures.
Both phrases use ‘hand’ as a metaphor to represent intentions or plans.
The phrase, “show your hand / cards,” is a poker terminology. It is a game where players reveal their cards, which inspires the original phrase while Nigerian English adapts it for social interactions.
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